Sudan army routed in heavy fighting along El Obeid-Kosti road
SAF attempt to open key North Kordofan road
Heavy fighting erupted yesterday between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces on both ends of the road connecting the North Kordofan capital El Obeid with the army-controlled state of White Nile.
The battles began after the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) launched simultaneous operations east from El Obeid toward Mount Kordofan—an RSF stronghold—and west from Tendelti toward Umm Ruwaba, a two-pronged assault apparently intending to open the key Kordofan road, or at least to make progress toward that goal.
A distance of about 200 km separates the 5th Infantry Division in El Obeid (referred to as the “Camel Army,” after its Anglo-Egyptian predecessor, the Camel Corps) from the nearest SAF-controlled city in White Nile, Tendelti. In between lie several cities dominated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), including Umm Ruwaba and Rahad.
Videos filmed by combatants yesterday indicate that the advancing Sudanese army troops were routed in at least two locations, including at a military camp near Mount Kordofan, which is a distance of about 15 km from the El Obeid city center, and along the road somewhere between Tendelti and Um Ruwaba.
Altogether at least 200 SAF soldiers died in the fighting yesterday, judging by videos of the SAF war dead filmed by RSF combatants. Since not all the war dead were filmed, and the RSF lost men too, the full death toll is likely closer to 500-1000.
RSF sources acknowledged losses on their side, including an officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel, Abdel Moneim Tutu, known as “Sheria,” as well as two captains and two lieutenants.
In a statement after yesterday’s fighting, RSF claimed “a great victory in separate battles on two axes in the state of North Kordofan, through which the regime forces sought to open the national road, Kosti to El Obeid, but the heroes of our forces were waiting for them, and they inflicted heavy losses in lives and equipment on them.”
RSF claimed to have killed 400 men in the fighting on the Mount Kordofan axis, and 500 men along the Tendelti-Um Ruwaba road.
For its part, SAF published statements and videos on its social media pages boasting that they had captured Mount Kordofan, after inflicting losses on the RSF, but these media statements apparently preceded the RSF counter-attack.
Separately, there were conflicting claims on social media over whether the RSF had taken control of a Central Reserve Police camp on the southern outskirts of El Obeid. A local source in El Obeid told Sudan War Monitor that the camp remained under army control, though passing RSF soldiers had taken some videos in the area.
Videos
Using geolocation, we were able to identify the area where several videos below were filmed, including one that shows RSF troops attempting to gun down fleeing SAF troops, dead and wounded soldiers, etc. (Additional videos from this military base were shared on social media, showing additional war dead, which are not shown here).
Separately, SAF combatants earlier had filmed videos of themselves advancing toward this location and temporarily taking control of the military installation at Mount Kordofan, before RSF counter-attacked.
SAF had brought trucks carrying ammunition and other supplies to Mount Kordofan, indicating that they likely intended to permanently occupy the site, possibly using it as a stepping stone to continue their advance southeast toward Rahad. The RSF captured at least four of these vehicles, according to videos filmed in the aftermath.
Heavy casualties inflicted on SAF column
Separately, the below video was filmed on the other side of North Kordofan, near the border with White Nile, after RSF repulsed the SAF advance toward Umm Ruwaba.
Pro-SAF social media accounts corroborated news of an advance toward Umm Ruwaba, saying SAF troops had reached al-Ghabsha village, which lies approximately along the frontline between SAF and RSF, 30 km west of the White Nile State border.
In their press statement after the fighting, RSF claimed that they captured 10 combat vehicles, four trucks, and a fuel tanker, adding that they chased the SAF troops “back to the outskirts of Tendelti in White Nile State.”
Probable massacre of prisoners of war
After the fighting near Mount Kordofan, RSF combatants filmed themselves boasting and showing off the bodies of dozens of SAF soldiers lying in a gully. Several factors indicate that this video depicts the massacre of men who had surrendered to the Rapid Support Forces or were attempting to do so:
The dead have no weapons either in their hands or near their bodies.
The bodies are very close together, too close to have fallen during combat.
One of the RSF soldiers fires a bullet threateningly at the ground next to a blindfolded and still-living prisoners, demonstrating a willingness to harm PoWs.
The video therefore likely shows the bodies of a group of unarmed soldiers whom the RSF had rounded up and marched to this site before shooting them dead. Alternatively, the men might have been hiding in this gully, attempting to avoid capture, when they were discovered and attacked.
A longer version of this video depicts the RSF interrogating a wounded SAF soldier (seen in the earlier part of the video being dragged out of the gully), who apparently had survived the earlier shooting that had killed his comrades. He said that he belonged to the 5th Infantry Division in El Obeid. The video also shows clearly the faces of several of the potential perpetrators.
Renewed violence in the countryside west of El Fasher
Meanwhile in North Darfur, at least one person was killed and two others were injured following renewed attacks on rural villages west of El Fasher yesterday, May 7. Sources reported that Arab armed groups loyal to the Rapid Support Forces attacked the villages of Kuila and Kabga, south of the Abu Zerega.
Farther to the north, a massive fire of unknown origin destroyed a number of homes in Bayna village, Mellit locality, North Darfur state, last Thursday.
Local sources explained that the fire caused huge losses to residents and created devastating effects in the area. According to the same sources, the citizens of the region launched an appeal to organizations and charities to determine the extent of the damage resulting from the fire, as well as forming special committees to assess the damage and the extent of the losses suffered by the affected families.
In a separate incident, the Khair Ban area in the northern countryside of El Fasher was exposed to successive fires in a number of villages during the past two weeks. In the first village, about 57 houses were damaged, and the fire caused the death and injury of a number of citizens who were transported to El Fasher Hospital in the south. Another fire broke out that destroyed About 74 houses completely, in addition to 13 houses that were partially burned.
The people of the region issued an urgent appeal to local, regional and international organizations, local and national governments, and the regional government to stand with the people of the region who were left out in the open and under the shade of trees, after losing their property and their stocks of food and other resources, with the burning of all agricultural crops and a number of livestock, in addition to losses in other property.
Arab groups loyal to the Rapid Support Forces have been attacking villages in the countryside west of El Fasher since early April, killing dozens at least 50 people and displacing thousands of villagers from the region.
At least 12 killed as a result of bombing in North Darfur
In another development, at least 12 people were killed and others were injured in attacks launched by army warplanes on North Darfur state Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning, including Kabkabiya and some suburbs of El Fasher.
Field sources from El Fasher indicated that seven of the injured were transferred to El Fasher South Hospital to receive the necessary treatment. Medical sources from inside Al-Fasher South Hospital also explained that the aerial bombardment killed an entire family, and the same sources confirmed that among the victims were three children and their mother who died in the incident.
Local sources told Sudan War Monitor that among the victims were the family of Mr. Hassan Ahmed Saneen, his wife Intisar, and two of their children in the al-Wifaq neighborhood, east of the city. The sources explained that the death toll yesterday amounted to 12 citizens, including children, as a result of the aerial bombardment in the early hours of the morning, corresponding to May 7, in northeastern El Fasher.
The bombing also caused the burning of a number of homes and property in the eastern and northern neighborhoods of the city, including Masna and al-Wafaq.
